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PROBLEMS  OF  NATIONALl 
AND  INTERNATIONAL 
POLITICS 


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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


• 


Problems  of  National 


AND 


International  Politics 


B.  P.  WADIA 


V 


> 
Problems  of  National 


AND 


International  Politics  > 


B.  P.  VWADIA 

Author  of  "Growths  Through  Service" 
and  ' '  The  Inner  Rider. ' ' 


THEOSOPHICAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  NEW  YORK 

230  Madison  Avenue 

New  York  City 


Copyright  1922 
By  Theosophical  Association  of  New  York. 


All  Rights  Reserved. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


1 


PREFACE 

This  lecture  was  delivered  at  the  Calcutta  Con- 
vention of  the  Theosophical  Society  (which  has  its 
international  Headquarters  at  Adyar)  in  December, 
1917.  It  is  a  humble  attempt  of  a  student  of  The- 
osophy  to  understand  some  of  the  principles  of  Po- 
litical Evolution  in  the  light  of  the  teachings  given 
through  the  Secret  Doctrine  of  H.  P.  Blavatsky  in 
the  last  quarter  of  the  last  century. 


I 

February,  1922. 


PROBLEMS  OF  NATIONAL  AND 
INTERNATIONAL  POLITICS 

By  *B.  P.  Wadia 

The  subject  of  this  lecture  sounds  controversial,  but 
I  do  not  think  my  address  will  be  dragged  into  the 
arena  of  controversy  for  some  time  to  come.  In  a 
way  I  wish  it  would  form  a  topic  of  hot  debate,  for 
then  it  would  mean  that  the  world  is  changing  in  its 
views  on  political  problems.  We  have  often  heard 
that  Theosophy  has  nothing  to  do  with  politics  ;  but 
I  do  not  think  any  instructed  member  of  our  Society 
will  rule  out  of  court  the  study  and  exposition  of 
such  problems  of  politics  as  I  desire  to  place  before 
you  to-day,  though  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the 
world  outside  the  Theosophical  Society  will  pass  it 
by,  with  a  good  natured  shrug  of  the  shoulder. 

I  can  guarantee  more  Theosophy  than  politics  in 
this  lecture,  but  at  the  outset  I  would  like  to  make 
clear  two  points:  first,  that  what  I  say  embodies  my 
own  personal  opinion  and  should  not  be  regarded  in 
any  way  as  authoritative.  There  is  always  a  danger 
of  individual  opinions  of  prominent  Theosophists 
being  taken  as  tenets  or  doctrines  of  the  Theosophi- 
cal Society,  and  I  think  it  becomes  the  duty  of  stud- 
ent after  student  of  the  Sacred  Science,  as  he  puts 
the  fruits  of  his  study  before  the  Society,  to  affirm 
that  individual  opinions  do  not  narrow  the  fine, 
broad  platform  of  our  international  organisation. 
The  second  point  is  this :  I  would  like  you  to  note 
that  what  I  say  here  is  the  result  of  the  study  of  an 
individual  brother,  with  all  his  limitations  of  vision 
and  penetration  and  understanding. 


RELIGION  AND  POLITICS— 

A  COMPARISON 

The  first  thing  I  should  like  to  point  out  is  this, 
that  the  prevailing-  view  from  which  the  entire  range 
of  politics  is  observed,  is  the  Western  and  modern 
one.     The  way  in  which  the  hoary  East  looked  at 
political  problems  was  different.     In  these  later  cen- 
turies in  which  the  Western  world  has  been  influen- 
cing, more  and  more,  the  thought-atmosphere  of  our 
civilisation,  the  older  view  of  politics  has  gone  out 
of  fashion,  is  forgotten,  is  not  even  considered.   Just 
as  the  nineteenth  century  scholars  traced  the  source 
of  religion  to  superstition  and  described  the  evolu- 
tion of  religion  from  the  totem  and  the  fetish  to 
monotheistic  phases  of  thought,  so  also  our  political 
thinkers  trace  the  history  of  our  political  evolution 
from  the  far-off  periods  when  savage  tribes  tried 
their  hands  at  the  art  of  government.     The  patri- 
archal family,  like  the  totem  in  religious  thought,  is 
the    seed   from',  which    the   many-branched    tree   of 
modern  politics  has  grown.     It  is  said:  One  Uni- 
versal God  from  the  totem,  our  vast  political  struc- 
ture from  the  patriarchal  family. 

That  is  not  the  view  that  Theosophy  takes.  Our 
Society  has  been  instrumental  in  enabling  the  world, 
thanks  to  the  teachings  of  H.  P.  Blavatsky,  to  take 
a  somewhat  different  view  of  the  origin  of  Religion 
and  religions.  It  has  not  wholly  succeeded  as  yet, 
but  already  we  have  taken  a  great  step,  and  we 
find  that  some  of  the  ablest  thinkers  of  the  West 
are  inclined  to  take  our  view  regarding  the  evolu- 
tion of  religion.  Similarly  we  may  succeed — I  think 
we  shall — in  helping  Western  civilisation  to  accept 
our  view  regarding  theories  of  Political  Science. 
The  Theosophical  outlook  in  matters  religious  is 
being  accepted  very  fast  nowadays,  and  I  shall  not 

6 


be  surprised  if  our  angle  of  political  vision  presently 
finds  acceptance  in  the  world  of  international  politics 
which  is  steadily  emerging  before  our  eyes.  *  It  is 
that  T'heosophical  outlook  on  political  problems,  not 
of  any  one  particular  nation,  but  of  humanity  as  a 
whole,  which  is  the  object  I  have  in  view.  I  will 
not  talk  of  Home  Rule  and  Communal  Represen- 
tation, or  the  'Russian  Revolution  and  American 
Trade,  or  the  many  and  varied  problems  which  are 
now  engaging  the  attention  of  politicians  and  states- 
men in  different  countries.  All  that  I  propose  to  lay 
before  you  is  a  few  principles  which  bring  us  to  the 
elevated  spot  from  which,  as  Theosophists,  we  view, 
understand  and  interpret  the  political  progress  of 
communities,  nations  and  races.  It  is  fitting,  there- 
fore, to  mention  here  that  you  should  only  expect  a 
somewhat  disjointed  lecture;  the  sequential  flow  of 
idea  after  idea,  linked  one  to  another — thus  presentr 
ing  a  complete  picture — is  beyond  me  to-day.  I 
shall  endeavour  to  put  before  you  a  few  ideas,  which 
appear  to  me  to  be  principles,  which  may  enable  all 
of  us  to  study  further — that  is  all  I  can  do. 

DIVINE  GOVERNANCE 

Modern  civilisation  does  not  yet  accept  the  view 
of  the  older  world,  that  the  evolution  of  forms  and 
institutions,  and  the  corresponding  unfoldment  of 
souls  and  principles,  takes  place  according  to  some 
definite  scheme,  divine  in  origin  and  mainly  super- 
physical  in  nature.  It  does  not  yet  favour  the  idea 
that  humanity  is  guided  along  its  path  of  progress 
in  terms  of  a  well  defined  plan.    The  divine  govern- 

1  Woodrow  Wilson,  the  great  democrat,  in  his  excellent  volume, 
The  State,  makes  reference  to  kinship — which  according  to  him  is  a 
fundamental  principle  active  in  tho  production  of  the  original  State — 
and  Religion  (cf.  pp.  14  and  16,  where  the  origin  of  Religion  and  the 
State  are  discussed). 


ance  of  the  world  is  regarded  as  an  absurdity  by 
science,  and  is  only  made  use  of  by  religious  folk 
as  a  figure  of  speech  to  console  their  minds  in  times 
of  sorrow  or  difficulty.  For  a  statesman  or  a  poli- 
tician, the  consideration  of  divine  interference  as  a 
factor  of  practical  politics,  the  consultation  of  divine 
schemes  and  plans  as  an  aid  to  his  everyday  work, 
would  be  a  fantastic  notion  indeed ;  any  legislator 
who  dared  to  talk,  even  vaguely,  along  such  lines, 
would  be  shown  the  way  to  the  nearest  lunatic  asy- 
lum. A  man  or  woman  holding  such  views  or  be- 
liefs works  in  silence  and  has  to  keep  them  private, 
more  or  less,  if  he  or  she  happens  to  be  a  politician. 
Now  that  is  the  first  point  I  would  like  to  put 
before  you.  The  instructed  Theosophist  believes  or 
knows  that  there  is  a  divine  scheme  according  to 
which  progress — sub-human,  human,  super-human, 
physical  and  visible  or  superphysical  and  invisible — 
is  taking  place. 

The  scheme  of  progress,  divine  in  origin,  was  an 
object  of  study  to  the  ancients.  The  Divine  Kings 
who  guided  the  infant  humanity  of  later  Lemurian 
and  Atlantean  days,  did  their  magnificent  work  in 
terms  of  that  scheme.  At  the  dawn  of  our  Aryan 
Race,  the  ancient  Rshis  and  Yogis  had  visions  of  the 
Plan,  and  performed  their  task  accordingly.  As  man 
was  able  to  stand  alone  more  and  more,  as  his  in- 
stinct and  mind  unfolded  their  powers  in  course  of 
time,  as  his  intuitions  began  to  work,  according  to 
the  dictates  of  the  Plan,  physically  he  was  left  to 
himself  to  build  his  individuality  and  advance  with 
the  help  of  his  awakened  nature.  The  Readers  of 
the  Plan  vanish  from  the  pages  of  history,  and  when 
we  come  to  what  is  now  called  historical  times,  the 
very  existence  of  the  Scheme  is  not  referred  to.  Take 
the  Puranas — and  the  facts  of  the  existence  of  a 
scheme,  as  also  the  workers  of  the  scheme,  are  evi- 

8 


dent ;  take  the  later  Iranian  writings  or  Greek  ones, 
and  we  still  come  across  references  to  the  existence 
of  the  old  Seers  and  Divine  Kings  and  religious 
Teachers.  But  come  to  modern  history,  and  we 
have  no  Scheme  and  no  Divine  Helpers  who  aided 
mankind  on  its  upward  journey.  StilL  later,  and 
the  notion  of  an  upward  journey  becomes  non-exist- 
ent, and  only  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  because  of  the  writings  of  Darwin,  evolu- 
tion— only  materialistic  and  bodily — comes  into 
prominence.  The  happenings  of  our  later  days,  the 
many  scientific  discoveries,  the  work  of  Spiritualism 
and  Psychical  Research,  but  above  all  the  teachings 
put  forward  by  the  Theosophical  Society,  are  caus- 
ing the  thought  of  the  world  to  tend  to  the  idea  that 
there  may  exist  some  kind  of  process  or  plan  or 
scheme,  according  to  which  the  entire  progress, 
along  many  lines,  of  the  whole  of  mankind  has  been 
taking  place.  The  oft-quoted  lines  of  the  great  Vic- 
torian poet,  Tennyson,  are  only  an  index  to  the 
thought  of  his  world  which  has  been  groping  in  the 
dark  td  find  a  better  understanding  of  this  ever- 
moving  panorama  of  evolution.  At  the  beginning 
of  his  In  Memoriam  he  advises  us  to  let  "'reverence 
in  us  dwell,"  and  at  the  end,  with  the  help  of  that 
reverence,  he  sings  of 

One  God,  one  law,  one  element, 

And  one  far-off  divine  event, 

To  which  the  whole  creation  moves. 

That  Divine  Event  has  a  political  significance 
which  forms  part  of  our  study  this  morning. 

THE  PLAN  AND  THE  HELPERS 

Now  that  is  the  first  idea  to  be  grasped  for  the 
purposes  of  our  lecture:  that  even  the  political 
evolution  of  humanity  is  taking  place  in  exact  terms 

9 


of  a  Divine  Flan  ;  further,  that  the  political  evolution 
proceeds  along  lines  to  which  it  is  guided  by  Those 
who  know  of  the  plan.  Theosophists  must  risk  the 
ridicule  of  the  world  and  affirm  that  Divine  Helpers 
exist  to-day  as  in  the  far-off  past,  and  on  Theosophi- 
cal  politicians  will  devolve  the  task  of  familiarising 
the  modern  world  with  the  concept  that  man's  poli- 
tical evolution  is,  fundamentally  and  in  the  main, 
guided  by  Rajarshis,  Manus,  Lawgivers,  who  labour 
from  behind  the  veil,  unknown  and  unrecognised  by 
the  vast  majority,  but  of  whose  existence  and  activi- 
ties some  few  know  even  to-day.  That,  then,  is  the 
second  idea :  Divine  Helpers — Masons  of  the  great 
Architect  of  the  Universe — who  build  according  to 
knowledge.  The  politicians  and  the  statesmen  of 
to-morrow,  who  will  lead  an  international  civilisa- 
tion from  glory  to  glory  till  the  end  of  the  fifth 
stage  of  the  vast  drama  of  evolution  on  our  globe, 
will  be  men  and  women  who,  in  an  increasing  num- 
ber, will  be  pupils  and  disciples  of  these  Divine 
Helpers.  Some  of  the  great  statesmen  of  to-day 
are  unconsciously  led  by  these  helpers  to  take  one 
step  or  another ;  most  of  the  great  and  significant 
events  of  to-day  are  the  outcome  of  such  unrecog- 
nised guidance,  direction  and  help.  As  humanity 
grows  into  Justice  and  Liberty,  thej  hand  of  the 
Divine  Helper  will  become  visible  to  an  increasing 
extent,  till  in  the  culminating  civilisaton  of  our 
Aryan  Race,  Gods  will  walk  the  earth  as  of  old, 
and  the  Golden  Age  will  have  returned. 

THE  FREE  MAN 

Our  next  stage  is  to  enquire  into  the  purpose  of 
the  divine  scheme,  as  far  as  human  political  evolu- 
tion on  this  globe  is  concerned.  The  purpose  of  all 
evolution,  according  to  Theosophy,  is  to  bring  man 
to  the  realisation  of  his  divinity,  not  merely  latent, 

10 


but  divinity  which  has  become  fully  patent.  Man, 
by  and  through  the  help  of  evolution,  becomes  God, 
knows  Himself  and  His  universe,  can  and  does  use 
the  Power  of  His  Will,  can  and  does  create  a  uni- 
verse all  His  own,  which  He  fills  with  His  Love  and 
guides  with  His  Wisdom.  In  other  words,  the  pur- 
pose of  evolution  is  the  unfoldment  of  man,  through 
the  stages  of  Superman,  to  that  Perfection  which 
is  embodied  in  the  shastraic  conception  of  the  Su 
preme  Purusha.  Man  is  striving  to  become  a  Per- 
fect Individual — free  in  mind,  morals  and  activities. 
The  purpose  of  all  evolution  is  to  enable  him  to 
attain  to  that  exalted  status.  The  various  branches 
of  the  tree  of  evolution  serve  the  one  purpose — to 
give  man  the  necessary  shelter  while  he  is  engaged 
in  the  Herculean  labour  of  growth  unto  a  Perfect 
Individuality. 

Bearing  this  purpose  in  mind  we  shall  have  to 
study  the  principles  of  man's  political  evolution  in 
the  light  of  Theosophy.  The  aim  of  political  evolu- 
tion on  our  globe  seems  to  me  to  be  the  production 
of  the  Free  Man,  who  will  Jive  and  love  and  labour 
among  Free  Men,  uninterfered  with  by  State-laws 
of  any  kind  or  description.  Our  emancipated  Free 
Man  has  unfolded  his  divinity  to  the  extent  which 
enables  him  to  understand  and  apply  the  laws  of  his 
being  to  his  own  good,  and  without  injury  to  any- 
one else.  He  does  not  require  the  aid  of  any  set  of 
rules  or  regulations,  laws  or  enactments,  made  by 
others;  further,  the  laws  of  his  life,  which  are  the 
outcome  and  the  manifestation  of  his  unfoldment. 
however  different  from  those  of  his  neighbour,  do 
not  interfere  with  the  latter's  existence  ;  our  Free 
Men  have  different  outlooks  on  life  and  the  world* 
but  each  of  them,  in  his  individual  freedom,  living 
according  to  his  own  enlightened  conscience  and  the 
set  of  laws  and  rules  which  he  has  made  for  himself, 

11 


lives  without  interfering  with  or  harming  his  fellow 
Free  Men,  whose  enlightened  consciences  have 
given  them  their  points  of  view  and  their  outlooks, 
and  who  have  made  for  themselves  their  own  sets 
of  rules  of  conduct  and  laws  of  life. 

Bearing  in  mind  this  purpose  of  the  political 
evolution  of  mankind  on  this  globe,  we  shall 
endeavor  to  study  the  principles  which  guide  that 
evolution.  The  production  of  the  Free  Man,  who 
lives  according  to  self-made  laws,  and  therefore  is 
self-reliant,  is  the  object  of  Nature  which  she  strives 
to  attain  through  the  political  evolution  of  human- 
ity. To  use  the  technical  Theosophical  language, 
our  Free  Man  is  one  who  has  realised  the  Power  of 
his  Atma  to  a  certain  extent ;  this  realisation  has 
made  him  find  and  adopt  the  law  of  his  being,  which 
law  finds  expression  in  his  own  life.  He  lives  in  the 
company  of  other  Free  Men,  who  similarly,  through 
atmic  realisations,  have  found  their  individual  laws 
of  being  and  life.  Imagine  a  community  of  men  and 
women  who  have  realised  the  power  of  Atma,  whose 
individualities  therefore  have  attained  freedom  of 
thought  and  movement,  who  are  detached,  each 
a  monarch  unto  himself,  and  yet  live  in  harmony 
because  each  has  lost  the  power  to  impose  or  to 
wound.  The  common  tie  between  them  all  is  the 
self-effort  of  each  to  live  his  life  in  terms  of  the  laws 
of  his  own  being — a  life  of  inner  richness  and  reality 
which  receives  only  one  kind  of  aid  from  without, 
vis.,  in  the  self-effort  of  each  to  gain  the  view-point 
of  the  others.  I  can  not  describe  adequately  the 
end  of  political  evolution  which,  will  flower  in  this 
splendid  civilisation  in  the  seventh  root-race  on  this 
our  earth.  I  want  just  to  present  the  goal  to  be 
reached,  so  that  our  study  of  the  path  to  it  may  be 
a  little  facilitated. 

12 


THE  INDIVIDUAL— THE  MAIN  FACTOR 
Now  you  will  see  that  the  main  factor  of  political 
evolution  is  the  individual.  The  family,  the  tribe, 
the  community,  the  nation,  and  their  respective 
theatres  of  growth — the  home,  the  village,  the  pro- 
vince, the  country,  and  the  institution  called  the 
State,  common  to  all,  which  grows  from  simplicity 
to  be  a  complex  organism — are  all  playgrounds  for 
the  unfoldment  of  the  individual,  are  all  instruments 
by  whose  aid  our  Free  Man  will  eventually  come 
to  birth. 

In  this,  once  again,  we  differ  in  our  ideas  from 
the  Western  thinkers  and  exponents  of  Political 
Science.  The  evolution  of  the  State,  the  growth  of 
political  institutions,  cannot  be  studied  by  itself 
without  any  reference  to  thd  individual.  In  the 
study  of  the  institution  of  the  family  in  the  home, 
or  the  tribe  in  the  village,  the  individuals  who  are 
the  component  parts  form  the  most  important 
factors.  In  this  materialisitic  age,  a  scientific 
medical  man  hardly  takes  into  account,  when  he  is 
consulted  about  the  bodily  ailments  of  a  man,  the 
influence  on  the  disease  of  that  man's  emotions  and 
thoughts  or  of  the  play  of  his  soul-forces.  Similarly 
our  political  doctors  of  modern  times  have  divested 
the  study  of  political  institutions  of  its  most  im- 
portant factor,  the  individual,  and  concern  them- 
selves mainly  with  rules  and  laws  which  affect  their 
environment,  and  which  the  evolving  individuals 
bring  into  existence  at  different  stages  of  their  life- 
journeys.  This  is  the  great  obstacle ;  at  least  I  have 
found  it  to  be  so,  in  my  study  of  the  Western  polit- 
ical writers;  in  their  splendid  expositions  they  take 
us  away  from  realities  into  concepts  which  are  re- 
moved from  living,  human  interest.  Also  their  ex- 
positions do  not  take  account  of  the  fact  that  the 
individuals  who  formed  the  original,  simple  State  of 

13 


the  family  once,  are  exactly  the  same  individuals 
who,  as  they  go  on  unfolding  their  powers,  form  the 
more  complex  States  of  the  village  or  the  nation ; 
that  family  ties  and  blood-relationships  evolve  into 
communal  and  racial  bonds,  and  that  the  war  be- 
tween country  and  country  is  not  to  be  traced  merely 
to  feuds  between  family  and  family,  or  tribe  and 
tribe,  but  the  causes  thereof  have  to  be  looked  for 
elsewhere,  viz., in  the  individuals  whose  warring  pro- 
pensities are  the\  outcome  of  insufficient  soul-de- 
velopment. A  whole  volume  could  be  written  on 
this  theme,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  make  a  passing 
reference  and  go  on. 

You  will  see  immediately  from  this,  that  family, 
tribe,  country — in  other  words  the  State,  the  ever- 
growing, complex  State — is  not  of  primary  but 
secondary  importance.  The  individual,  as  he 
evolves,  leaves  behind  him  these  institutions.  They 
are  not  created  by  him,  however  great  a  share  he 
may  have  contributed  in  building  them  up.  It  is 
all  very  well  for  our  Western  political  doctors  to 
trace  the  State  to  the  family,  but  who  brought  the 
family  into  being?  And  who  indicated  to  the 
ignorant  savage,  who  was  nothing  more  than  an 
embodiment  of  barbaric  instincts,  how  to  live  har- 
moniously the  State-life  of  family  or  tribe?  I  know 
that  it  is  said  that  these  savage  ancestors  of  ours 
instinctively  evolved  the  laws  of  family  life,  etc. ; 
however,  I  am  not  here  to  prove  the  error  in  the 
theories  which  are  now  accepted,  but  rather  to  give 
the  Theosophical  outlook  on  these  problems. 

Aristotle,  who  is  still  in  many  respects  regarded 
as  the  greatest  authority  on  the  problems  of  polit- 
ical science,  traces  the  origin  of  the  State  to  the 
household.  Plato  of  old,  and  Seeley  of  modern 
times,  conceded  the  great  part  the  individual  plays 

14 


in  the  formation  and  evolution  of  the 'State,  and  yet 
they  seem  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the  State  exists 
for  the  purpose  of  the  individual.  Of  course  the 
whole  problem  is  thrown  back  on  the  original  sin 
of  Materialism,  which  denies  the  divinity  of  men 
and  things,  and  refuses  to  see  the  hand  of  God  in 
evolution. 

THE  STATE—ARCHETYPAL  AND   OTHERS 

The  State  at  its  different  stages  of  evolution  is  an 
institution  which  we  come  across  in  our  study  of 
the  divine  scheme.  The  State  is  an  archetype 
of  the  world  of  Spirit;  the  State  is  an  Idea,  in  the 
sense  in  which  Plato  used  that  word ;  the  State  is  a 
concept — arupa,  formless,  as  Theosophists  would 
say.  That  archetype  bursts  into  many  shapes  in  the 
world  of  matter,  just  as  many  triangles  burst  from 
the  archetypal  triangle ;  that  State-Idea  is  the  womb 
of  all  States,  large  and  small,  political  or  religious, 
autocratic  or  bureaucratic  or  democratic,  family  and 
tribe  and  nation  States ;  that  arupa  State  is  like 
Professor  Owen's  strange  archetypal  mammal,  made 
up  of  all  the  States  of  which  we  are  aware,  and  of 
those  of  which  we  do  not  yet  know.1 

The  manifestations  of  that  archetypal,  formless 
State  which  exists  in  the  realm  of  Spirit,  are  to  be 
found  in  the  world  of  matter.  The  archetypal 
State  is  thus  projected  for  the  purposes  of  afford- 
ing playgrounds  to  the  individuals  who  are  evolv- 
ing on  this  earth  ;  even  these  projections  are  more 
or  less  sorted  out  and  a  few  particular  ones  are 
assigned  to  our  globe,  and  we  shall  come  across 
others  on  other  planets  when  we  quit  this  theatre 

1  Of  the  various  western  political  thinkers,  1ihe  late  Professor  Seeley 
has  lines  of  reasoning  which  often  come  near  to  the  ancient  and  Theo- 
saphical  thought.  Thus,  for  example,  on  the  idea  of  the  archetypal 
Stiate,  we  find  some  cognate  thoughts  in  his  Introduction  to  Political 
Science   (pp.    16-18)  : 

15 


of  strife.  This  projection  we  can  study  when  we 
study  the  divine  plan,  and  by  studying  the  sorting- 
process  we  come  to  know  of  the  divine  helpers  and 
co-operators  who  work  at  the  plan. 

This  brings  us  to  the  idea  that  the  fundamental 
principle  of  human  political  evolution  on  this  globe 
is  the  State,  in  which  man  lives  and  by  whose  aid 
he  evolves.  In  this,  at  any  rate,  Eastern  and  Wes- 
tern political  thinkers  are  at  one,  though  they  differ 
as  to  the  relative  importance  and  value  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  State,  the  genesis  of  the  latter,  and 
the  impression  the  former  leaves  thereon.  In  their 
definitions  they  are  as  the  poles  asunder.  How- 
ever, it  is  not  my  task  to-day  to  describe  the  be- 
liefs and  opinions  of  Western  and  Eastern  political 
savants ;  I  want  to  confine  myself  to  obtaining  a 
Theosophical  outlook  on  the  subject  of  the  State, 
its  origin,  purpose  and  function,  and  concomitant 
problems  pertaining  to  human  political  evolution. 

"The  division  of  mankind  into  States  is  of  vast  importance,  first, 
because  of  its  universality ;  secondly,  because  of  its  intensity  and  the 
momentous  consequences  it  has  had.  When  I  speak  of  its  universality 
I  admit  that  I  stretch  considerably  the  meaning  commonly  given  to  the 
word  State.  In  the  Greek  or  Roman,,  or  in  the  European  sense  of  the 
word,  the  State  has  been  aaid  is  by  no  means  universal;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  somewhat  rare  among  mankind.  Bulj  we  want  some  one 
word  to  denote  the  large  corporation,  larger  than  the  family  yet 
usually  connected  with  the  family,  whatever  form  it  may  assume,  and  the 
word  State  is  the  only  word  which  can  be  made  to  serve  this  purpose. 
Sometimes  it  would  be  better  called  a  tribe  or  clan,  sometimes  a 
church  or  religion,  but  whatever  we  call  it  the  phenomenon  is  very 
universal.  Almost  everywhere  men  conceive  themselves  as  belonging 
to    some   large   corporation. 

"They  conceive  themselves,  too,  as  belonging  to  it  for  life  and 
death ;  they  conceive  that  in  case  of  need  this  corporation  may  make 
unlimited  demands  upon  them ;  they  conceive  that  they  are  bound, 
if  called  upon,   to   die  for  it. 

"Hence  most  interesting  and  memorable  results  follow  from  the 
existence  of  these  great  corporations.  In  the  first  place,  the  growth 
•nd  development  of  the  corporations  themselves,  the  various 
forms       they      assume,      the      various      phases      they      pass      through ; 

16 


then  the  interaction  of  these  corporations  upon  each  other, 
the  wars  they  wage,  the  treaties  they  conclude,  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  conquest  and  federation ;  then  again  the  infinite  effects 
produced  upon  the  individual  by  belonging  to  such  a  corporation, 
those  infinite  effects  which  we  sum  up  in  the  single,  expressive  word 
civilisation;  here,  you  see,  is  a  field  of  speculation  almost  boundless, 
for  it  includes  almost  all  that  is  memorable  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind, and  yet  it  is  all  directly  produced  by  the  fact  that  human  being! 
almost   everywhere   belong   to    States. 

"This  peculiar  human  phenomenon,  then,  the  State  in  the  largest 
acceptation  of  the  word,  distinct  from  the  family  though  not  uncon- 
nected with  it,  distinct  also  from  the  nation  though  sometimes  roughly 
coinciding  with  it,  is  the  subject  of  political  science.  Or,  since  the 
distinctive  characteristic  of  the  State,  wherever  it  appears,  is  that  it 
makes  use  of  the  arrangement  or  contrivance  called  government,  we 
may  say  that  this  science  deals  with  government  as  political  economy 
deals  with  wealth,  as  biology  deals  with  life,  as  algebra  deals  with 
numbers,   as  geometry  deals'  with  space  and  magnitude."  ■ 

The  divine  origin  of  the  State  is  acknowledged 
by  the  Mahabharata: 

"In  the  early  years  of  the  Krta-Yuga,  there  was  no  sovereignty, 
no  king,  no  government,  no  ruler.  All  men  used  to  protect  one 
another  righteously.  [This  is  the  age  and  regime  of  Perfection  of 
Innocence  with  which  all  phases  of  evolution  begin,  and  as  indicated 
by  H.  P.  B.  in  her  monumental  work. — B.  P.  W-]  After  some  time, 
however,  they  found  the  task  of  righteously  protecting  each  othe* 
painful.  Error  began  to  assail  their  hearts.  Having  become  subject 
to  error,  the  perceptions  of  men  became  clouded,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence, their  virtues  began  to  decline.  Love  of  acquisition  got  hold 
of  them,  and  they  became  covetous.  When  they  had  become  subject 
to  covetousness  another  passion,  namely  wrath,  soon  possessed  their 
minds.  Once  subject  to  wrath,  they  lost  all  consideration  of  what 
ought  to  be  done  and  what  should  be  avoided.  Thus,  unrestrained 
licence  set  in.  Men  began  to  do  what  they  liked  and  to  utter  what 
they  chose.  All  distinctions  between  virtue  and  vice  came  to  an  end. 
When  such  confusion  possessed  the  souls  of  men,  the  knowledge  of 
the  Supreme  Being  disappeared,  and  with  the  disappearance  of  the 
highest  knowledge,  righteousness  was  utterly  lost.  The  gods  were 
then  overcome  with  grief  and  fear,  and  approached  Brahma  for  pro- 
tection and  advice.  Brahma  then  created  by  a  fiat  of  his  will  a  son 
named  Virajas.  This  son,  born  of  the  energy  of  Brahma,  was 
made    the   ruler    of    the   world"    (Shanti    Parva,    Mahabharata.). 

Compare  this  with  Milton's  view  in  his  Tenure  of  Kings  and 
Magistrates,  where  he  says  that  all  men  were  borne  free,  that  wrong 
sprang   up    through    Adam's    sin,    and   that   to    avet   their   own    complet* 

17 


CIVILISATION— NO  ORIGIN 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  origin  of  the  State 
It  is  of  divine  origin,  archetypal  in  nature  ,and  it  is 
a  component  part  of  the  scheme  of  the  Logos.  Its 
purpose  has  also  been  indicated.  The  many  mani- 
festations of  that  archetypal  State  are  so  many 
theatres  of  progress  in  which  human  beings  gain 
experience  and  garner  wisdom.  States,  simple  and 
complex,  have  ever  existed  as  they  exist  to-day.  I 
do  not  think  we  can  truthfully  posit,  as  some 
Western  writers  have  done,  that  when  the  earth 
was  young,  all  human  beings  were  savages,  were 
naked  in  body,  mind  and  soul.  The  Secret  Doctrine 
raises  the  curtain  on  a  very  different  drama.  Oc- 
cultism, which  is  defined  as  the  study  of  the  Divine 
Mind  in  Nature,  gives  us  a  different  idea..  The 
divine  scheme  contains  pictures  different  altogether 
from  those  drawn  for  us  in  modern  books.  I  have 
searched  in  vain  in  thej  pages  of  the  The  Secret 
Doctrine  for  a  reference  to  the  time  when  cultured, 
civilised  human  beings  were  altogether  absent  from 
the  field  of  evolution.  This  old  earth  has  been  from 
very  early  times  more  or  less  the  same  in  this,  that 
human  beings  of  different  stages  of  growth,  and 
therefore  of  intelligence  and  culture,  have  been 
evolving  side  by  side  as  they  do  to-day.  In  this 
our  twentieth  century,  the  intellectual  American 
and  the  Red  Indian  savage  live  on  the  same  con- 
tinent ;  in  this  our  country  of  India,  yogis,  sages 
and  saints  dwell   side  by  side  not  only  with  illit- 

destruction,  men  agreed  "by  common  league  to  bind  each  other  from 
mutual  injury  and  jointly  to  defend  themselves  against  any  that  gave 
disturbance   to    such    agreement.'' 

In  the  Mahabharata  the  origin  of  the  science  of  politics  is  given 
in  Shanti  Parva  (Section  59),  where  it  is  named  Dandaniti,  and  it  is 
described  as  divine  in  source.  Students  of  esoteric  lore  may  study 
this    section    with    great    profit   to    gain    light    on    the   subject. 

18 


erates,  but  with  semi-savage  hill-tribes.  The  sav- 
age and  the  civilised  man  have  always  been  there 
from  times  immemorial.  Therefore  States,  both 
simple    and   complex,    of    many   types   and    several 

kinds,  have  also  been  in  existence.1  And  our  Theo- 
sophical  study  and  research  yield  the  fact  that  these 
States  afford  the  means  with  the  help  of  which 
members  of  the  human  kingdom  evolve  along  many 
lines,  including  the  political.  That,  in  short,  is  the 
Theosophical  view  about  the  purpose  of  the  State.1 

GROUPS 

The  important  fact  implied  in  this  purpose  is 
that  human  beings  move  in  groups — a  fact  which 
Western  political  thinkers  also  affirm.     They  agree 

1  Here  again,   Professor   Seeley  lias  some   remarks  which    I  would  like 
you  to  ponder  over  in  the  light  of  what  I  am  saying: 

"Ancient  men,  too,  lived  in  states  and  submitted  to  government. 
And  if  we  go  to  countries  remote  from  Europe,  to  China,  which  has 
always  been  unaffected  by  western  civilisation,  or  to  India,  which 
has  usually  been  so,  we  still  find  governments  and  States.  It  is  true 
that  these  ancient  or  remote  States  differ  very  much  from  those  with 
which  we  are  familiar.  They  differ,  indeed,  more  than  we  readily 
understand.  Observers  and  students,  instead  of  being  surprised  at 
the  resemblance,  have  been  too  much  disposed  to  assume  them  and 
exaggerate  them.  They  have  taken  for  granted  that  men,  wherever 
found,  must  have  kings  and  nobles  and  governments  like  those  of 
Europe.  And  perhaps  some  error  has  crept  into  history  from  this 
cause;  as,  for  instance,  it  has  recently  been  maintained  that  the  Spanish 
accounts  of  ancient  Mexican  institutions  are  too  much  coloured  by 
Spanish  prepossessions.  But  when  all  due  allowance  has  been  made 
for  this  cause  of  error,  we  do  find  States,  even  if  States  of  a  differ- 
ent kind,  just  as  we  find  languages  everywhere,  though  the  unlikeness 
of  the  Bantu  or  the  Chinese  language  to  Greek  or  German  may  be 
greater    than    we    could    at    first    have    conceived    possible.'' 

— Introduction   to   Political   Science,    pp. 30-31. 

And  in  examining  the  problems  before  him  actuated  by  the  noble 
motive  of  looking  for  truth  in  every  quarter,  Professor  Seeley  gives 
a  hint,  and  it  would  be  well  for  his  students  and  successors  to  think 
it  over,   and    follow    the   suggestions  made. 

1  Pramathana'h     Banerjea,     in     his    most    excellent     book,    Public    Ad- 
ministration in  Ancient  India,   has  this  significant  remark: 

19 


with  the  occult  view  that  States  grow  in  complexity 
as  evolution  proceeds.  A  more  civilised  State  is  a 
more  complex  organism.  A  family-State  of  evolved 
individuals  is  much  more  complex  than  a  tribe-State 
of  less  evolved  beings ;  a  municipal-State  is  more 
complex^  than  a  province-State,  if  the  former  has 
evolved  further  than  the  province;  it  may  well  be 
the  reverse.  The  idea  we  want  to  get  hold  of  is 
that  more  civilised  States  are  more  complex  or- 
ganisms. 

A  NEW  VIEW  OF  RACES 

In  this  fact  is  embedded  the  principal  function  of 
the  State.  Highly  evolved  beings  progress  faster 
than  less  evolved  beings ;  therefore  the  former 
require  as  their  playground  a  much  more  complexly 
organized  State  than  the  latter.  Nature  always 
provides  suitable  environment  for  further  progress ; 
it  separates  an  individual  or  puts  him  in  with  others 
in  the  same  family  or  tribe  or  race  as  is  most  suitable 
for  the  further  harmonious  growth  of  the  individual 
I  have  found  the  study  of  this  subject  more  illumi- 
nated in  this  way :  We  Theosophists  are  familiar 
with  the  teachings  of  the  root-  and  the  sub-races ; 
these  races  are  known  to  us,  through  our  literature, 
as  instruments  or  channels  of  racial  progress  on  the 
side  of  body  or  form ;  the  type  of  the  race  is  a 
bundle  of  bodily  characteristics;  the  ethnological 
features  make  up  the  type — thus  the  Aryan  type  is 

"We    can    no    longer   think   of    excluding    any    state   because  we   do 

not   like   it,  any   more  than   a  naturalist   would   have  a   right   to  exclude 

plants    under   the    contemptuous    name   of   weeds,    or    animals    under  the 

name    of    vermin.      Accordingly    we   must    throw   open   our   classification 

to   political    organisms    the   most    unlike    our    own    and   the    most    unlike 

those   which   we   approve." 

—Ibid.,    p.    33 

"It  was  always   considered   the  duty  of  the   State  to  offer  facilities 
for   the   performance  of  their  duties  by  the  people"   (p.   282). 

20 


described  in  one  way,  the  sixth  root-race  type  in 
another  fashion  and  so  on.  Now  for  the  study  of 
our  subject  look  at  the  psychological  aspects  of 
root-races  and  sub-races.  A  man's  consciousness 
has  unfolded  to  a  certain  extent  along  certain  lines, 
and  therefore  he  belongs  to  a  particular  root-race 
and  to  a  particular  sub-race  thereof;  in  that  sub- 
race,  branches  and  families  are  arranged  to  make 
possible  the  unfoldment  of  that  sub-race  type  of 
consciousness.  Thus,  for  example,  in  the  third  sub- 
race — a  remnant  of  it  is  all  that  is  at  present  left — 
you  find  branches  and  families  of  all  grades  of 
advancement  which  can  harbour  the  unfolded  souls 
of  spiritual  people,  artists  and  writers  on  the  one 
hand,  and  also  the  less  evolved  souls  of  individuals 
struggling  in  the  lower  strata  of  society.  You  will 
understand  me  better  if  I  say  that  in  this  1st  sub- 
race  of  the  Aryan  Race,  there  are  2nd,  3rd,  4th  and 
5th  sub-race  people  to  be  found1 ;  a  Hindu  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  first  sub-race  as  far  as  his  bodily  type 
is  concerned — though  even  here  I  believe  certain 
exceptions  will  have  to  be  made — but  he  may  be  a 
Teuton  or  a  Kelt  when  his  soul-unfoldment  is  taken 
into  account.  A  Pars!  is  a  third  sub-race  individual 
ttodily — broadly  and  generally  speaking — but  he 
may  be  a  Hindu  or  a  Greek  as  far  as  his  conscious- 
ness is  concerned.  Caste  confusion  has  come  to 
prevail  not  only  in  this  country,  but  throughout  the 
world,  if  we  confine  our  thoughts  to  one  line  of 
evolution  only ;  but  chaos  vanishes  when  we  study 
the  problem  of  races  from  the  point  of  view  of  sev- 
eral lines  of  evolution. 

Therefore   in   our   study  of   human   grouping,  in 
and  through  which  political  evolution  takes  place, 

1  I  may  go  even  further  and  say,  psychologically,  that  6th  and  7th 
race  people  may  be  included.  Compare  the  line  of  thought  suggested 
by  H.  P.  B.  in  The  Secret  Doctrine,  Vol.  I  pp.  160-162;  Edition  of  1888. 

21 


we  have  to  take  into  account  the  various  aspects 
of  the  grouping.  The  family-grouping  of  to-day 
is  more  or  less  the  family-grouping  of  the  past: 
there  are  savage  families  and  there  are  cultured 
families,  but  we  cannot  dub  a  family  savage  because 
the  bodies  provided  by  that  family  belong,  say, 
to  the  4th  race.  A  Mongolian  family  may  be  very 
far  in  advance  of  a  Teutonic  family  when  soul-un- 
foldment  is  taken  into  consideration ;  but  speaking 
strictly  from  the  ethnological  standpoint,  a  scientific 
expert  may  rightly  affirm  that  the  Mongolian  body 
is  inferior  to  the  Teutonic  body  . 

THE  MANIFOLD  FUNCTION  OF  THE  STATE 

We  have  to  get  hold  of  this  idea  very  clearly — the 
function  of  the  State  is  a  many-sided  affair  and  it 
has  to  do  with  the  whole  of  the  individual  and  not 
any  particular  aspect  or  aspects  of  him.  In  under- 
standing the  function  we  have  to  bear  in  mind  the 
purpose  of  the  State.  The  purpose  of  the  State  is 
to  afford  a  playground  for  the  progressing  individ- 
ual, and  its  functions  consist  in  a  deliberate  hand- 
ling and  affecting  of  the  whole  individual.  The 
Theosophical  "man"  is  different  from  the  creature 
science  has  brought  into  existence  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  Man  is  sevenfold  and  tenfold  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  Theosophist;  he  is  double,  and 
at  the  most  triple,  from  the  point  of  view  of  modern 
science.  Therefore  from  our  standpoint  the  func- 
tion of  a  State — any  State,  family-State,  or  race- 
State,  or  nation-State — is  sevenfold  or  tenfold. 

The  State  has  certain  virtues,  if  we  may  put  it  in 
a  somewhat  concrete  manner,  and  these  the  in- 
dividuals passing  through  the  State  have  to,  and 
do,  acquire.  These  virtues  may  not  be  acquired  to 
the  full ;  the  individual  may  not,  and  in  almost 
every  case  does  not,  acquire  all  that  the  State  offers 
him  ;  but  under  a  certain  law  of  evolution — this  is 

22 


another  fascinating  study  which  Theosophists  may 
take  up  with  advantage — any  individual  passing 
through  a  particular  State  does  not  leave  it  alto- 
gether until  by  repeated  rebirths,  continuously  or 
at  intervals,  he  acquires  definitely  the  virtues  of 
the  State.  We  may  put  it  differently  and  say  that 
he  does  not  leave  that  state  till  he  is  sufficiently 
influenced  by  it.  Looked  at  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  individual,  as  a  soul,  he  takes  birth  repeat- 
edly in  that  environment  which  affords  him  oppor- 
tunities to  take  his  next  step  of  advancement.  An 
example  will  make  this  clear.  Suppose  a  man's 
further  step  depends  on  the  development  of  a  cer- 
tain virtue,  he  will  find  himself  in  the  State  which 
has  within  it  the  power  to  help  him  to  evolve  that 
virtue.  A  man  who  needs  the  development  of  in- 
tense patriotism  may  well  find  himself  to-day  in 
this  land  of  India  as  a  young  man.  The  State  of 
India — composed  of  several  factors — affords  him 
the  fine  opportunity  to  develop  patriotism.  On  the 
other  hand,  one  who  is  outgrowing  patriotism  and 
acquiring  a  humanitarian  outlook,  will  find  Ger- 
many a  suitable  channel  for  the  purpose. 

This  brings  us  to  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
the  number  of  projections  or  manifestations  of  the 
archetypal  State  used  on  this  globe,  is  a  definite 
number — somewhat  vast  but  still  limited — suitable 
to  the  corresponding  types  of  evolving  humanity 
on  earth.1 

Looked  at  from  this  standpoint,  States  may  be 
defined  as  natural  institutions  which  correspond 
with   certain  phases  of  human  evolution. 

1  Once  again    Seeley's   remarks   are  worth   quoding-.      He  says: 

"It  would  not  be  surprising  if  all  the  States  described  by  Aris- 
totle, and  all  the  States  of  modern  Europe  into  the  bargain,  should 
yield  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  whole  number  of  varieties,  while 
those  States  less  familiar  to  us,  and  which  our  manuals  are  ant  to 
pass    ovtr   in    silence   as    barbarous    .yielded    a    far   larger   number." 

— Introduction   to    Political    Science,    p.   34 

23 


A  NEW  CLASSIFICATION 

Now  human  evolution — for  the  purposes  of  our 
study  especially — may  be  said  to  consist  of  the 
evolution  of  material  organisims,  physical  as  well  as 
superphysical,  and  unfoldment  of  the  Spirit  and 
its  instruments  and  channels — Will,2  Pure  and 
Compassionate  Reason,1  Reasoning  Mind,2  Mind,3 
Emotional  Mind,4  Feelings,5  and  Instincts.6 

As  I  have  pointed  out,  political  evolution  aims  at 
the  production  of  the  Free  Man,  by  the  help  of 
States  which  are  natural  institions.7  The  develop- 
ment of  man,  material  and  spiritual,  referred  to 
above,  is  many-sided,  proceeds  along  many  lines, 
and  the  poltical  is  only  one  of  them.  The  political 
evolution  consists  in  the  man  making  himself  one 
with  the  State  with  a  view  to  learning  everything 
that  the  State  has  to  teach  and  acquiring  every 
virtue  that  the  State  has  to  offer.  A  man  passes 
through  one  projection  after  another  of  the  arche- 
typal State,  building  faculties,  unfolding  powers, 
acquiring  virtues.  He  does  all  this  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  the  grouping  arrangement  of  Na- 
ture.    This  grouping  arrangement  is  a  very  econ- 

2  Atma. 
J  Buddhi. 

2  Buddhi-Manas  or  Higher   Manas. 

3  Mind    untouched   by    Buddhi    but    free    from  the   influence   of   Kama. 

4  Kama- Manas. 
6  Kama. 

6  Instincts  are  twofold:  (a)  outcome  of  our  feelings  when  our  body- 
contacts  them ;  and  (b)  outcome  of  the  physical  elemental  contacting 
the    physical    body. 

7  Professor  Seeley  concedes  that  the  States  are  natural  institutions ; 
thus  he  is  on  the  way  to  accept  the  divine  origin  of  the  State,  and  I 
daresay  will  preach  it  when  he  returns  to  earth  to  occupy  the  then 
Regius  Professorship  of  the  then  Cambridge. 

He    says: 

"Now     certainly    the    State   is   not    so   purely   a   natural   product   as 
a    tree   or   an   animal ;    still    it  is   in   part   a    natural  product,   and   to   the 
extent   that   it   is   a   natural   product   it  must   be  said   to  be  in  the   strict 
sense  without  an  object." 
Loc,   cit.,    p.   40. 

With    the    latter   portion    of    the    quotation    we,    of    course,    cannot 
agree,   but  we  do   not  want  to  enter  into  discussions. 

24 


omical  arrangement  of  Nature,  as  it  is  also  most 
sympathetic  to  the  evolving  entities,  always  pro- 
viding short  cuts  and  paths  least  difficult,  however 
full  of  obstacles  they  may  sem  to  us  to  be.1 

THE  STATE  CEASES  TO  BE  USEFUL 

The  State  is  the  outcome  of  the  grouping  arrange- 
ment ;  there  may  be  other  outcomes  but  the  State 
appears  to  be  the  main  one ;  at  any  rate  it  is  so  for 
the  subject  of  our  study.  The  individual  passes 
through  State  after  State,  arriving  at  more  complex 
States  as  he  progresses  further  and  further,  but  at 
the  same  time  he  is  gaining  ground  in  another  direc- 
tion— he  must  "regain  the  child-state  he  has  lost." 
He  is  becoming  self-reliant,  is  able  to  stand  alone, 
and  is  in  a  position  to  render  help  to  men  in  his 
capacity  as  superman.  The  political  evolution  is 
over  when  the  man  needs  no  more  the  aid  of  the 
State. 

Aristotle  was  right  when  he  said  that  "Man  is 
naturally  a  political  animal ;  and  one  who  is  not  a 
citizen  of  any  State,  if  the  cause  of  his  isolation  be 
natural  and  not  accidental,  is  either  a  superhuman 
being  or  low  in  the  scale  of  civilisation,"  to  which 
we  would  add  the  class  of  one  who  does  not  belong 
to  the  human  kingdom  at  all.1  Man,  by  entwining 
himself  in  the  meshes  of  the  ever-growing  complex 
State,  acquires  the  virtues  the  States  have  to  give 
him,  but  he  all  the  time  is  also  endeavouring  to 
cast  off  fetters  which  are  concomitants  of  that  ac- 
quirement.    There   is   in   political  evolution,   as  in 

1  This,  again,  is  a  fascinating  by-path  which  I  must  forego  the 
temptation  to  tread.  It  is  said  in  books  of  Occultism  and  Yoga  that 
a  man  may  escape  from  the  bondage  of  birth  and  death  at  almost 
any  stage  of  evolution,  provided  he  makes  the  proper  use  of  his 
environment  and  responds  to  it  as  a  soul  and  not  a  personality. 
Nirvana  is  said,  to  be  a  change  of  Condition  and  not  conditions,  and 
in  human  political  evolution,  it  seems  to  me,  the  gaining  of  Freedom 
is    a    rich   possibility. 

1  Aristotle,  as  pointed  out  by  Seeley,  '"almost  excludes  from  his 
investigation  all  States  but  that  very  peculiar  kind  of  State  which 
flourished    in    his   own    country". 

25 


other  kinds  of  progress,  the  time  of  forthgoing  and 
the  time  of  return — the  Prayrtti  and  Nivrtti  marp-as. 
Now  it  is  very  difficult  for  me  to  describe  the 
process  which  a  man  adopts  when  he  is  passing 
through  States,  first  simple  and  later  on  complex, 
till  he  begins  to  return  to  the- simple,  and  eventually 
gets  there.  I  have  tried  to  paint  this  picture  in 
many  ways,  but  there  is  only  one  which  seems 
intelligible  enough  to  be  presented,  and  that  I  give 
here. 

YOGA  WITH  THE  STATE 

Theosophists  are  familiar  with  the  idea  of  yoga, 
of  union  with  the  Higher  Self,  or  with  the  object 
of  devotion,  or  with  the  Supreme.  We  also  know 
of  the  union  of  the  consciousness  of  the  disciple 
and  Master — the  yoga  between  the  Teacher  and  the 
pupil.  If  we  bring  to  bear  this  idea  of  yoga  or 
union  of  conscience  in  the  matter  of  States  and  in- 
dividuals, we  get  not  altogether  an  inadequate  idea 
of  the  process  whereby  an  individual  grows  polit- 
ically, through  the  instrumentality  of  the  State,  and 
at  the  end  triumphantly  emerges  a  Free  man — a  per- 
fect Anarchist — using  the  term  in  the  philosophical 
sense — the  perfect  man  of  Leo  Tolstoy  and  Walt 
Whitman.  I  know  there  are  aspects  of  this  analogy 
which  are  far  from  exactitude  of  detail,  but  I  am 
only  applying  general  and  broad  principles,  and 
there  is  hardly  an  analogy  perfect  in  all  its  parts. 

Picture,  therefore,  an  individual,  say,  in  the 
family-State:  even  there,  he  is,  to  use  the  Aristo- 
telian phrase — not  a  very  complimentary  one  to 
budding  Gods — "a  political  animal."  In  that  ele- 
mentary State1  of  the  family  he  is  evolving  politi- 
callv — learning,"  something  which  will  enable  him  to 
become  the  Free  Man,  the  Perfect  Citizen  of  a  Per- 

1   I    am    not    forgetting    that    there    are    evolved    family-States    which 
are  more   complex   than   evolved   tribe-States. 

26 


feet  Commonwealth,  where  each  man  lives  his  life 
by  the  laws  which  he  has  made  for  himself.  He  is 
learning  this  lesson  by  the  process  of  yoga  or  union 
with  the  family-State,  and  the  consciousness  of  that 
State  widens  and  continues  to  widen,  till  the  com- 
plete family-State — i.e.,  a  State  where  laws  of  con- 
sanguinity predominate  and  guide  human  endeav- 
our— is  realised  by  the  individual.  It  begins  at  an 
early  stage  of  human  evolution,  and  even  in  modern 
civilisation  human  beings,  on  the  whole,  have  not 
emerged  out  of  it.  Complex  family-States,  suitable 
for  highly  evolved  beings,  exist  to-day  in  which 
human  beings  are  acquiring  the  virtues  of  the 
householder,  which  State  is  not  yet  transcended. 
The  man  of  the  family  to-day  is  performing  yoga 
with  the  consciousness  of  his  family,  and  thereby 
with  that  of  the  family-State.  The  tribe-State, 
similarly,  is  not  altogether  left  behind  by  men  who 
have  even  come  to  twentieth  century  European 
civilisation ;  in  modern  England,  for  instance,  we 
have  Yorkshire  men  and  Lancashire  men,  as  we 
have  here  Panjabisj  and  Madrasis.  Through  our 
country  or  provincial  experiences  we  are  mak- 
ing a  union  with  the  tribe-State,  and  are  gaining 
the  virtues  a  tribe-State  offers.  Perhaps  this  ex- 
ample is  not  quite  happy,  because  tribes  were  wan- 
dering bodies  once — and  there  are  to-day  in  exist- 
ence ramifications  of  wandering  tribes  who  are  not 
■much  affected  by  geographical  boundaries1 — and 
provincial  population  has  settled  down  in  a  space 
area.  However,  if  we  examine  deeply  and  trace 
the  evolution  of  tribes,  I  do  not  think  my  example 
will  be  altogether  rejected.  Similarly  again,  human 
beings  gain  experience  and  acquire  virtues  through 
nation-States,  race-States,  and  so  on.     By  contact- 

'   We    may    with    advantage    examine    the    position    of    the    members 
of  our  T.    S.   as  belonging  to  a  kind   of  wandering  tribe. 

27 


ing  and  making  close  ties  with  States,  and  our  fel- 
low men  in  the  States,  individuals  are  evolving 
politically. 

THE  TWO  PATHS  OF  POLITICAL 
EVOLUTION 
This  process  has  two  definite  stages,  as  you  al- 
ready must  have  noticed,  to  which  I  have  referred 
in  passing.  There  is  the  first  factor — the  entwin- 
ing of  the  individual  with  the  State,  and  the  second 
— the  extricating  of  himself  from  the  State  when  he 
has  nothing  more  to  gain  therein.  Before  our  very 
eyes  is  taking  place  a  somewhat  strange  phenom- 
enon, perhaps  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
humanity — settled  family-life  is  more  and  more  be- 
ing given  up  by  members  of  the  evolved  races  under 
economic  and  other  pressure.  The  inclination  to 
get  married  and  settle  down  is  less  strong  to-day 
than  in  ages  past.  Time  was  when  civilisations 
had  no  bachelors,  where  family  life  was  supreme 
and  the  chief  function  which  members  thereof  had 
to  perform  was  going  through  the  marriage  rite 
and  living  the  married  life. '  In  its  place  to-day  we 
find  a  more  complex  State  than  the  family-State, 
and  we  are  all  evolving  through  nation-State 
and  race-State.  The  principles  of  nationality  are 
being  utilised  to-day  as  those  of  the  family-State 
were  once  used.    We  are  making  ourselves  one  with 

1  Cf.  'Maine's  Ancient  Law.  He  says:  "The  idea  that  a  number  ot 
persons  should  exercise  political  rights  in  common  simply  because 
they  happen  to  live  within  the  same  topographical  limits  was  utterly 
strange  and  monstrous  to  primitive  antiquity.  The  expedient  which 
in  those  times  commanded  favour  was  that  the  incoming  population 
should  feign  themsek'es  to  be  descended  from  the  same  stock  as  the 
people  on  whom  they  were  engrafted ;  and  it  is  precisely  the  good 
faith  of  this  fiction,  and  the  closeness  with  which  it  seemed  to  imitate 
reality,  that  we  cannot  now  hope  to  understand.  One  circumstance, 
however,  which  it  is  important  to  recollect,  is  that  the  men  who 
formed  the  various  political  groups  were  certainly  in  the  habit  of 
meeting  together  periodically  for  the  purpose  of  acknowledging  and 
consecrating  their  association  by  common  sacrifices.  Strangers 
amalgamated  with  the  brotherhood  were  doubtless  admitted  to  theie 
sacrifices ;  and  when  that  was  once  done,  we  can  believe  that  it 
seemed     equally     easy,     or    not     more     difficult,     to     conceive    them     as 

28 


our  respective  nations  and  races,  and  in  a  few 
centuries  we  should  have  completely  transcended 
that  and  should  be  engaged  in  making  ourselves 
one  with  a  more  complex  organism  of  an  interna- 
tional and  inter-racial  character.  Even  to-day  there 
are  men  and  women  who  are  dreaming  some  such 
dreams  and  aspiring  after  some  such  State. 

THE  TRUE  POLITICIANS 
Therefore  we  see  that  it  is  also  a  question  of 
escaping  from  a  State  when  the  lessons  it  has  to 
teach  are  learnt,  just  exactly  as  a  disciple  becomes 
a  Master  and  leaves  behind  the  stage  of  disciple- 
ship.  Thus  we  get  a  picture  of  the  function  of  the 
individual  in  the  State,  and  indirectly  of  the  latter 
towards  the  former.  This  applies  to  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  human  family — for  they  are  "political 
animals"  and  will  be  perfect  citizens  of  an  an- 
archical commonwealth — once  again  in  the  philo- 
sophical sense.  But  while  all  men  and  women  un- 
dergo political  evolution,  they  are  not  all  politicians. 
That  is  altogether  a  different  evolution,  to  which 
a  certain  number  of  humanity  belong — most  prob- 
ably one-seventh  of  the  total  number.  For  these  par- 
ticular individuals,  the  general  political  evolution 
becomes  more  deep  or  more  strenuous.  Once  again 
we  are  entering  a  side-track  of  our  main  subject, 
but   a   very   fascinating  track.      I   will   pass   on  by 

sharing   in   the   common   lineage.      The    conclusion,    then,    which    is    sug- 

?ested  by  the  evidence  is  not  that  all  early  societies  were 
ormed  by  descent  from  the  same  ancestor,  but  that  all  of  them 
which  had  any  permanence  and  solidity  either  were  so  descended 
or  assumed  that  they  were.  An  indefinite  number  of  causes  may 
have  shattered  the  primitive  groups,  but  wherever  their  ingredients 
recombined,  it  was  on  the  model  or  principle  of  an  association 
of  kindred.  Whatever  were  the  facts,  all  thought,  language  and  law 
adjusted  themselves  to  the  assumption.  But  though  all  this  seems 
tei  bi*  to  be  established  with  reference  to  the  communities  with  whose 
records  we  are  acquainted,  the  remainder  of  their  history  sustains 
the  position  before  laid  down  as  to  the  essentially  transient  and 
terminable  influence  of  the  most  powerful  Legal  Fictions.  At  some 
point  of  time*— probably  as  soon  as  they  felt  themselves  strong 
enough  to  resist  extrinsic  pressure — all  these  States  ceased  to  recruit 
themselves   by   fictitious   extensions   of   consanguinity."      p.    131. 

29 


saying  only  that  these  particular  human  beings  who 
are  evolving  as  politicians — not  necessarily  all  the 
members  of  Parliament  or  Legislative  Councils — 
often  become  Political  Helpers  of  Humanity,  Manus 
and  Lawgivers.  Rajarshis  and  Regents.  A  very 
good  description  of  these  true  Politicians  is  to  be 
found  in  Plato's  Republic,  where  they  are  described 
as  "artists  who  imitate  the  heavenly  pattern" ;  and 
"herein  will  lie  the  difference  between  them  and 
every  other  legislator — they  will  have  nothing  to 
do  either  with  individual  or  State,  and  will  inscribe 
no  laws,  until  they  have  either  found,  or  themselves 
made,  a  clean  surface."  How  will  they  copy  the 
pattern  when  they  have  obtained  a  "clean  surface"? 
Says  Plato :  "And  when  they  are  filling  in  the 
work,  as  I  conceive,  they  will  often  turn  their  eyes 
upwards  and  downwards :  I  mean  that  they  will 
first  look  at  absolute  justice  and  beauty  and  tem- 
perence,  and  again  at  the  human  copy ;  and  Avill 
mingle  and  temper  the  various  elements  of  life 
into  the  image  of  a  man;  and  this  they  will  conceive 
according  to  that  other  image,  which,  when  exist- 
ing among  men,  Homer  calls  the  form  and  likeness 
of  God."  But  all  that,  as  Kipling  would  say,  is 
another  story. 

TWO  PRINCIPLES 

I  have  referred  above  to  the  simultaneous  proces- 
ses whereby  a  man  gets  entwined  and  also 
extricates  himself  from  the  State — the  two  margas, 
as  it  were,  of  human  political  evolution.  The  first, 
I  have  described  in  terms  of  yoga,  union  with  the 
State ;  the  second  may  be  aptly  spoken  of  as  a 
spiritual  counterpart  of  the  struggle  for  existence 
and  the  survival  of  the  fittest — the  existence  of  a 
Free  Man  and  not  of  a  "political  animal,"  to  be- 
come the   fit  "Anarchist,"   surviving  all  the  bonds 

30 


and    fetters    that    long-    evolution    imposes    on    us. 
These   two   aspects   lead   us   to  the   inference   that 
there  must  be  also  two  fundamental  principles  on 
which  this  double-aspect  process  rests.     I  think  a 
little  careful  study  confirms  our  expectation  for  we 
find  that,  common  to  all  States,  simple  and  complex, 
are  two  appendages,  the  principle  of  union    (with 
co-operation  as  its  central  manifestation),  and  the 
principle  of  unity  (with  the  supreme  purusha,  the 
Perfect   Citizen,    the    Free    Man,   as   the   goal  ever 
held  in  view).     Let  me  put  it  a  little  more  clearly. 
We  find  that  an  individual  belonging  to  a  partic- 
ular State,  in  the  process  of  yoga  with  that  State 
entwines  himself,  by  the  help  of  this  principle  of 
union,  with  other  members  of  the  State.    The  State 
is  not  apart  from  the  individual,  though  it  is  created 
for  him  ;  the   individual,  so  to  say,  is  part  of  the 
machinery  of  the  State;  without  him  the  necessity 
for  the  State  vanishes.    The  divine  scheme  provides 
for   the   State   because   individuals  have   to  have  a 
playground  for  progress.    Where  would  be  the  need 
for  a   playground   if  no  players  have   to  play   any 
game?    The  playground  implies  players — the  latter 
form  part  of  the  former.     Now  the  individual  and 
the    State   have   a   similar   relationship.     The  indi- 
vidual   acquires;  the   virtues   of   the   State   through 
the  instrumentality  of  fellow-citizens.     In  perform- 
ing yoga  with  the  State  an  individual  co-operates 
with  other  individuals  in  that  State.     All  the  time 
thq    individual    learns    how    to    co-operate — in    the 
family  with  a  few,  in  the  tribe  with  a  few  more, 
as  a  nationalist  with  many,  and  an  internationalist 
with  many  more,  as  a  humanitarian  with  all.    That 
is  the  first  process,  which  is  predominantly  in  mani- 
festation  in    the   first   half   of   the   human   political 
evolution.     Progress  is  fast,  and  is  mainly  achieved, 
in  the  first  period,  by  this  co-operation.    The  second 

31 


phase  is  predominant  in  the  second  half,  and  the 
individual,  as  individual,  emerges  in  that  period  and 
receives  his  due  homage.  His  mastery  over  the 
State,  his  independence  of  the  State — he  being,  as 
it  were,  more  than  the  State — are  phases  of  the 
second  half  of  political  evolution.  The  key-note  of 
the  first  is  union,  co-operation  with  others ;  that  of 
the  second  is  unity,  as  a  result  of  which  the  indi- 
vidual, self-reliant,  self-satisfied,  flowers  as  the  Free 
Man,  the  perfect  Citizen  of  a  Lawless  Kingdom. 

THE  TWOFOLD  WAY 

Lest  I  be  misunderstood,  I  will  say  that  I  do  not 
contend  that  in  simple  and  early  State-conditions 
men  co-operate  with  each  other,  and  in  the  second 
half  they  are  warring  entities.  There  are  no  two 
periods,  but  rather  are  there  two  phases  common 
to  all  States ;  these  States  may  be  simple  or  com- 
plex in  structure ;  they  may  be  stable  or  moving 
in  space;  they  may  be  early  or  late  in  time.  In  the 
remotest  past  and  in  the  most  simple  of  family- 
States,  both  the  processes  are  at  work,  as  a  little 
observation  shows.  In  the  most  complex  world- 
State  of  the  future  also — the  world-State  of  Free 
Men — these  two  are  to  be  found.  Thus  it  will  be 
seen  that  to  unite  with  others  and  yet  retain  one's 
individuality  is  the  double-faced  evolution  through 
which  we  have  to  make  headway.  Thus  co-operation 
and  competition  are  not  opposed  to  each  other,  but 
are  supplementary,  or  complementary,  whichever 
way  you  like  to  look  at  the  pair.  It  is  a  maddening 
idea,  but  it  is  apparently  true — that  we  are  engaged 
in  the  work  of  obtaining  something  only  to  leave 
it  behind,  to  reject  it,  to  throw  it  away.  We  make 
ourselves  one  with  our  family,  and  then  we  want 
to  escape  it ;  with  our  tribe,  and  then  we  have  to 
leave  it ;  with  our  nation,  and  then  we  have  to  quit 

32 


it.  Get  and  give  away;  try  to  be  rich,  gain  wealth, 
and  then  aspire  to  be  possession-less!  And  this 
through  tens  of  thousands  and  millions  of  years ! 

PRINCIPLES  AND  RACES 

This  tremendous  drama — call  it  a  farce  if  you 
please — has  seven  acts  which,  in  Theosophy,  we  call 
the  seven  root-races.  Each  root-race  has  seven 
scenes  which  we  call  the  sub-races,  and  each  sub- 
race  several  parts.  In  each  act  one  phase  of  the 
seven-fold  man  plays  the  leading  part,  the  remain- 
ing six  phases  also  are  at  work  on  the  stage.  The 
perfection  of  the  whole  is  aimed  at  in  the  very  end, 
but  the  greatest  impetus  for  the  perfection  of  each 
is  given  to  it  when  it  plays  the  leading  part.  Take 
an  example  :  in  one  particular  act  or  root-race  Kama 
plays  the  leading  part ;  Kama  will  not  show  per- 
fection at  the  end  of  that  act,  but  only  at  the  end  of 
the  play,  but  it  receives  the  greatest  impetus  to- 
wards perfection  in  the  particular  act  or  root-race. 
The  Kama  in  man  will  manifest  perfection  at  the 
close  of  evolution,  but  it  receives  the  greatest  help 
to  attain  it  in  the  root-race  where  Nature  plays 
upon  that  particular  human  principle.  All  the 
States,  from  the  most  simple  to  the  most  complex, 
in  that  particular  root-race,  are  engaged  in  aiding 
Kama  in  the  individual  to  progress  towards  perfect 
manifestation.  The  double  process  of  union,  or  co- 
operation, and  of  unity,  implying  competition  in 
all  States  of  that  root-race,  are  mainly  and  chiefly  in 
reference  to  Kama.  What  happens  in  root-races, 
also  happens  in  sub-races  of  each  of  the  root-races. 

All  these  principles  I  have  been  speaking  about 
have  to  be  taken  into  account  in  the  real  study  of 
political  problems  of  any  nation.  I  have  brought 
you  far  away  from  electorates  and  franchise,  Home 
Rule,  wholesale  or  step-by-step  or  in  compartments, 

33 


votes  for  women,  or  no  votes  for  women,  free-trade 
or  protection,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  But  then  we  are  at 
last  at  the  beginning'  of  our  subject — Problems  of 
National  and  International  Politics.  Only  the 
Theosophical  outlook  is  what  I  have  been  able  to 
present,  and  I  believe  that  you,  my  brothers,  can 
apply  those  principles  to  the  problems  which  affect 
your  citizenship. 


34 


A  SYSTEMATIC  COURSE  OF  READING 

arranged  by 

THE  THEOSOPHICAL  ASSOCIATION  OF 
NEW  YORK. 


Key  to  Theosophy 

Ocean  of  Theosophy 

Popular  Lectures  on  Theosophy 

Echoes  from  the  Orient 

The  Occult  World 

In  the  Outer  Court 

The  Science  of  the  Emotions 

A   Study  in   Consciousness 

Isis  Unveiled 

The  Secret  Doctrine 


H.  P.  Blavatsky 

Wm.  Q.  Judge 

Annie  Besant 

Wm.  Q.  Judge 

A.  P.  Sinnett 

Annie  Besant 

Bhagavan  Das 

Annie   Besant 

H.  P.  Blavatsky 

H.  P.  Blavatskv 


The  Bhagavad  Gita 
The  Bhagavad  Gita 
Notes  on  the  Gita 
Doctrine  of  the  Heart 
Light  on  the  Path 
Practical  Occultism 
The  Voice  of  the  Silence 


Annie  Besant 

Wm.  Q.  Judge 

Wm.  Q.  Judge 

Annie  Besant 

Mabel  Collins 

H.  P.  Blavatsky 

H.  P.  Blavatsky 


These  books  can  be  obtained  at  the  Headquarters 
of  The  Theosophical  Association  230  Madison 
Avenue,  New  York  City. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


PSD  2343    9/77 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    000  385  207    6 


